Ecology and Intervention in Coastal Louisiana

• In Event: Ecosystems, Ecology, and the Boundaries of Life

Abstract

This paper examines the history and practice of restoration ecology as it is carried out in southern Louisiana, a state infamous for losing, on average, one football field’s worth of wetlands each hour. This already watery landscape has been further inundated by canals dug for oil pipelines, subsidence, frequent storms, and sea-level rise. Restoration ecologists in Louisiana have proposed to counteract this radical land-loss by “reconnecting the Mississippi River to its delta,” using large-scale river diversions to slowly build up sediment through controlled flood events across the eroding marsh. These projects prioritize sediment as the central feature of Louisiana’s coastal ecology, suggesting that by strategically re-incorporating the muddy river into local ecosystems, contemporary forms of coastal life can be rejuvenated. Yet, similar projects have been implemented in the recent past, conceptualized as control structures, rather than ecological interventions, and prioritizing other aspects of the local landscape. These past projects are now simultaneously naturalized and treated as evidence of the positive effects of future river diversions by many restoration ecologists. Drawing on the history of one such past diversion, this paper traces how the aims and justifications for its use have changed at distinct historical and political moments, illustrating a shift toward ecosystem thinking. By examining this shift, this paper interrogates how ecosystem thinking in Louisiana privileges particular forms of relation with the landscape while turning away from others.

Author

• Hannah Burnett, University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology